Who Made My Clothes?
I watched The True Cost in 2015 and it honestly shook me.
Fashion cannot exist without the people who make our clothes. We often imagine fancy robots, production lines pumping out perfectly automated products. But that's not how clothes are made.
Fashion is inherently a human process. Behind every sewing machine, sits a real-life person, guiding the fabric to the needle. There is a pattern cutter, a designer, a sample seamstress. An average garment is touched by many hands before reaching yours.
Consider this:
- There are roughly 40 million people employed by the garment industry
- Around 85% of them are women
- Worldwide, only c.2% of fashion workers earn a liveable salary
And that's just not good enough.
In 2022 I set out to launch my own clothing brand.
From the outset, I wanted to make a difference.
I toured every factory, researched every fabric, visited each and every single workshop and supplier. These are the real heroes behind your clothes.
On most of our pieces, there are elements stitched (by humans) using a sewing machine. There are also elements that are hand stitched. Buttons, gather detail, certain seams or darts. This is true craftsmanship, that should be highlighted and appreciated.
Our pieces have been produced by small workshops of seamstresses in São Paulo, in clean, safe environments, earning a fair wage. This is really, really important to me.
Fashion cannot look good, if it does not do good, too.
When you wear a Piccoli piece, you can be sure that you are making a difference. You are offering fair, decent labour for women in Brazil, and showing off their craftsmanship.
If it feels unique, special to the touch - it's because it is.
You are wearing limited edition pieces, produced in small batches. With fabrics that require special care, cuts that require extra attention. Think of all the time it takes to stitch all the buttons on our Dutra dress! Seriously.
You see those photos above? Those are real shots of where your clothes are made, where the fabric is cut into the patterns and stitched. We believe in clean, transparent fashion. And we hope you do too.
We can make a difference together.
So thank you, as always, for supporting us on this journey.